Between Tides & Ties (2026)
Intergenerational Showcase at National Museum Singapore, as part of Children's Season 2026
in collaboration with My First Skool 137 Bukit Merah and seniors from NTUC Health Senior Day Care Centre (Bukit Merah),
organised by National Museum of Singapore as part of Children’s Season 2026
Between Tides & Ties is an intergenerational art installation inspired by the Singapore River and the many journeys, encounters and exchanges that have shaped it over time. Co-created with children and seniors, the work explores how history lives not only in archives and artefacts, but also in the memories, curiosities and hopes we carry with us. Through drawing, collage, texture, writing and storytelling, participants created individual “fragments” that come together to form a collective boat — a shared vessel of memories, questions and dreams. The installation invites visitors to come aboard, contribute their own fragments, and consider how our shared histories are continually remembered, interpreted and imagined together across generations.
THE MAKING - BEFORE THE BOATS SET SAIL
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The use of collage is central to the project because it reflects the way we experience history, memory and identity. We rarely encounter them as complete narratives. Instead, we experience them through fragments, traces and partial perspectives. For this project, collage became both a method and a metaphor. Each participant contributed a small piece shaped by their own memories, questions, observations or imagination. When brought together, these fragments form a larger collective vessel. Historically, the river was a place where people, cultures, goods and stories converged. In a similar way, collage brings together different voices and experiences into new relationships. The installation celebrates the idea that collective meaning emerges not from a single perspective, but through many contributions coming together.
Visitors are invited to become participants rather than simply spectators. Throughout the exhibition, members of the public can contribute their own fragments in response to prompts inspired by the installation. They are invited to reflect on their own memories, experiences, questions and hopes, and add these contributions to the growing collective artwork. In this way, the installation continues to evolve over time. Just as the river was shaped by countless journeys and encounters, the artwork is shaped by the people who pass through it.
Visitors are invited to become participants rather than simply spectators. Throughout the exhibition, members of the public can contribute their own fragments in response to prompts inspired by the installation. They are invited to reflect on their own memories, experiences, questions and hopes, and add these contributions to the growing collective artwork. In this way, the installation continues to evolve over time. Just as the river was shaped by countless journeys and encounters, the artwork is shaped by the people who pass through it.
